Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox.
Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and thanks for joining us. We're going to little thoughts on the news, going to highlight the stupid because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And then phone a friend. This time I'm thrilled. We're going to call Bill Hemmer. Bill Hemmer is one of the
best in the industry. He's a super nice guy, always full of energy. And I'm telling you behind the scenes, what you see, you get the same thing when you're with him in person. He's just, just a wonderful, wonderful human being. And he's had some, some amazing experiences you probably haven't heard about. Um,
Anyway, we'll give him a shout as well. But I want to start with some stuff in the news on an issue that I don't think is going to go away. It's something I wrote an opinion piece for on FoxNews.com, and it has to do with the border crisis. You know, we recently saw that President Biden decided to close down eight countries in southern Africa because of this new COVID variant.
And he made that decision, you know, and we can get into the hypocrisy of how they treated it when Donald Trump, you know, shut down some countries. You know, he said, hey, this we don't know about this COVID thing. Let's let's shut down China. And then the left, they all started yelling and screaming about how he was xenophobic. And, you know, he had all these things.
It was just wrong. And Joe Biden was helping to lead the charge, saying we cannot do this. It's racist and all these other things. But the point I want to make about this shutdown of these countries and the segue that it has to do with COVID is...
I don't think you ever solve this problem. And the president will never have credibility on this issue, on masks and mandates and everything else. I just don't think that that happens until you actually get serious about the southern border. We have literally hundreds of thousands of people who
flowing across our border. Do they have a mask mandate? Do they have to get vaccinated? Even the ones that we detain, we release. They don't have a policy of testing. They basically say, if you have any symptoms, hey, let us know. Otherwise, you're just allowed to continue on on your merry way. Now, for some people are detained. Some people, it's a little more complicated than that. But no way you can tell me that you're serious about COVID
when you're willing and knowing that you're taking hundreds of thousands of people, thousands of which are taken and put into other cities via bus or airplanes,
And you haven't done anything with those people. I think it's very disingenuous. You know, I've kind of said on air, you get a few people with some sniffles and some concerns about a new variant in Botswana. And maybe that ends up being really serious. But the initial reports are, is that, you know, very mild symptoms. Hospitalizations are not up over there. And we cut off all the travel. And yet we have known people coming across our border saying,
By the hundreds of thousands, we don't deal with it. Here's the other thing that I think is a big implication. You know, there's a lot of saber rattling from Russia about potentially taking over another part of Ukraine. There's also some saber rattling as it relates to Taiwan and China.
incursions into airspace and some thoughts there. There's some good dialogue and concern, I should say, about the Olympics are coming up. Chinese probably don't move before the Olympics. But when the Olympics are done, I think it
february right january february isn't that when the olympics are after that what makes you think that china wouldn't make a move on taiwan you know it's usually been the united states and the threat of military action and protection by the united states of taiwan that has impeded action by china in taiwan
There's always been sort of that threat lingering out there, and will the Chinese make that move or whatnot? And the Russians, I think, look at the United States and say, yeah, we've got a weak president, no resolve.
I mean, that's what they saw when they took over parts of Georgia, that the state of Georgia, the country of Georgia. I think it's roughly 20, 25 percent of that country they just came and took. And then Crimea had happened under the Biden watch there with Barack Obama, that part of Ukraine. And here's the here's the connection that I see.
I think that if they're Russia or China, they say the United States won't even protect its own borders. What makes you think they're going to go in and try to protect the borders of Taiwan or protect the borders of Ukraine?
And you know what? That's a very good question. If Joe Biden would ever take a question, what makes you think that you're going to support and protect the borders of Taiwan or Ukraine when you don't even protect the borders of the southern part of the United States? I think that's the seminal question. I think that's the big one. And I don't think he can answer it. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Bill Hemmer right after this.
The Fox True Crime Podcast presents Crimes on Campus. Sharing chilling stories of scandal, corruption, and murder. New episodes available every Tuesday this month. Listen and follow at foxtruecrime.com. All right. Time to bring on the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. ♪
I'm looking here at Tesla. Not Tesla being stupid, but the government being stupid. Now, there's been some criticism and some concern that the Department of Energy put a lot of money into Tesla to have them get to where they got. They got a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy, and it was a long-term structured loan. But to their credit, Elon Musk...
and Tesla have decided to repay that loan back early. Seems like something we should applaud. Seems like they should get some kudos for that. Seems like something that maybe they should be incentivized to do. Oh, no, no, no, no. What makes this exceptionally stupid is evidently they have an early repayment penalty. So Tesla is gonna have to pay a premium
for paying back the loan from the American people early. That's ridiculous. That is absolutely putting all the wrong incentives in the wrong place. The incentives should be pay it back early and there's some sort of benefit or at least not a penalty, but they could have extended it out. They could have kept the cash, but Tesla's doing exceptionally well. They built a great product. They're helping to change the world and Tesla,
the demand for Teslas is just off the charts. So they're repaying hundreds of millions of dollars, evidently, early, and they're going to get penalized. Even with the penalty, they're still going to pay it back early. I just think that is so, so stupid by the U.S. government. Time to move on because now we're going to phone a friend and somebody that I saw from afar, Bill Hammer. And then my time at Fox...
I got to know him. Super nice guy. I really want to golf with this guy because he's trying to improve. And being on the air every day, he doesn't get out and golf every day. So I think I could maybe take him on a few holes. And I would love nothing more than put a little hammer cash in my pocket playing a little golf. I am not a good golfer. But if we play up straight with my handicap versus his handicap, and I'm too competitive, I think I could probably take him for a little bit of cash. But meanwhile...
I just tell you, he is a super nice guy, very helpful, and just as wonderful of a person you see on air. So let's give a call to Bill Hemmer. Hello. Bill Hemmer, this is Jason Chaffetz. Brother, man, how have you been? Oh,
Thank you so much for joining us. I had it set up for the Hemmer interview, but I had no idea if you'd actually answer the phone. For you all the time, anytime I see Jason Chaffetz light up on my iPhone, I know the man's going to have something to say. So indeed, great to be with you.
Well, thanks so much for joining me. You're one of the few guys that can actually pronounce my name properly, so I've got to keep you on my list of contacts. I appreciate that. The thing I appreciate about you is that I've never lived in Washington, D.C., and when all this convoluted stuff starts to come in about committees and subcommittees and this, that, and the other, you have a way of helping me understand it. So, my friend, thank you.
Oh, well, thanks. I love being on with you. You're so smooth. You're so good. You're so like prepared to, you know, I've been in there in the Fox studios and you've had various, you know, times and you start, but you're always there super early on top of it, reading stuff. Well, it shows. Well, you're kind to say that, um,
I kind of see it the other way around because I always see at the end of a show that I could have done something better all the time. So you go back and like watch the game tape and say, I didn't do that. I mean, look, I know you punted at Utah. And if I was a punter at Utah, I would know BYU. Sorry. I would go back and look at the game film. But I don't I guess maybe when I was younger, I would look at it more often. That's a hard thing to do.
And like in TV to go back and watch yourself, it's, it's nearly painful. Um,
So, I mean, you can see warts and all, but I think a lot of times, like even generally today, I mean, I've been under the weather for the last week, and I mean, my brain was about a second behind, so thank goodness Perina was there to save me. We've all been there, right? When the brain is sloshing around in your head, and it's just, yeah, you're right, about a second behind of the rest of the world. Yeah, I call it the, well, I call it the COVID delay now.
Yeah. I used to call the video phone. All right, let's go live to Decrete to Jason Chaffetz, who's live in Decrete. Hello, Jason. Thousand one, one, thousand two, thousand three. Hello, Bill. You have to, you know, what you learn to do is you cheated a little bit. You know, they're getting right to the end. And so you start talking and on TV, it looks pretty smooth with that second or two. Most times, hopefully. Hopefully, unless they continue on. Exactly. Yeah.
Hey, now let me ask you. So, you know, I was reading a little bit about you and anybody who's been around you knows that you're a sports fan. I mean, you love sports, right? So you were born back in Ohio, right? That's right. 1996. Shut up. So yes, you're, you're born back in Ohio.
And growing up, you were just playing. I mean, you loved sports, right? What were the sports, the go-to sports that you were? I mean, obviously it was football. And then I would say basketball and then baseball would be third. It's pretty traditional stuff. And a lot of people play lacrosse now and some other sports, but that was, you know, that was one, two and three for me. So you're playing, but then wasn't your like first thing,
kind of movement into radio television. Wasn't that about sports? It was actually. What did you do? What was that? Well, I mean, when I was growing up, I mean, I knew two things in this world. I knew music and I knew sports and you know, I'm 16 years old and I'm thinking, well, what in the world am I going to do with my life? And a buddy of mine, Doug Lutz,
He and I came up with this idea. My high school is a really cool high school. Cincinnati Elder, all boys, Catholic, a thousand boys. Wait, wait, wait. All boys? What's so cool about that? Well, the brotherhood is, I guess you have to experience it. The brotherhood is unmatched. And
And across the street, there was an all-girl Catholic school. Oh, across the street. Across the street. So you had a lot of unions that came out of the Seton Elder mergers, let's say. So we had a tower, and...
We came up with this idea where we were going to play music before class in the morning at 7.30 a.m. in the tower on a record player with bad old rock and roll albums. And they let us, and it was bad. It was not well done. It lasted three weeks. But I was like, you know, I'm about to go to college, so maybe like...
So maybe like broadcasting is something that I would be interested in. And that's what started my, you know, you got to declare a major at some point. So broadcast journalism was the major I declared. So that helped me. Let's go back to this Tower record playing. Three weeks is not very long. I agree.
What happened at the end of three weeks? It's like Molly Hatch. It was just, it wasn't good. You know, the PA system today is not what the PA system was then. There's no base, right? It just sounded better. Like, all right, guys, we gave it a shot. Thanks, but no thanks. Okay, so you do that. And you're going to college and you decide that,
Yeah, but why broadcasting? I mean, when you're growing up, you're playing sports. Are you the guy that's like sitting in the dugout or on the sidelines calling the plays? I can't say that I was, but I thought it might be a cool thing to do. Remember now, you're 16, 17 years old. All you want to do is the cool things. And I guess I was thinking that...
I could be a sports reporter or I could be a disc jockey and maybe not even necessarily in that order. So that's, that was kind of my launching point. But then a buddy of mine had an internship at the NBC station in Cincinnati, Ohio. And I was going to school at Miami university in Oxford, which was about an hour's drive.
So my roommate, Rich Mitchell, let me borrow his 1968 Honda Accord or whatever it was back then. And I'd drive down to Cincinnati and I'd work for free. So I started, and I'll tell you, Jason, I remember the very first day, the sports anchor was Steve Fisiak.
Tall, blonde hair, great pipes, a really good guy. The newsroom was on the basement floor, and we took an elevator up to the studio on the third floor. And I'm in the elevator with Steve, and I've been watching the guy for years. And I say, you ever get nervous? He says...
You know, Bill, after a couple thousand shows, the nerves just kind of go away. And the elevator door opens, and there's this beautiful control room here bathed in this blue light. And behind it through a glass wall was the studio for the newsroom. And the anchor for that broadcast then was Jerry Springer.
And I, yeah, immediately I was hooked on the whole idea about deadlines and performance and getting it done and getting it done on time. And I, I mean, very first day, Jason, I was hooked.
So why not pursue sports? I mean, look, you're obviously talented at this. You know sports because you're growing up with it. Why not just continue down the sports thing? Where did you kind of say, you know what, I'm going to do like hard news? Yeah, that's a great question. I was making $9,000 a year when I left college, and I got a promotion to $12,000 a year. Okay.
And I was on my way. But I didn't have a reporter's job yet. So then I got a job across town at the CBS affiliate. And I was eternally grateful for the fellows that hired me. Doing news? Yeah. No, doing sports. I was the weekend sports anchor. So for a couple years now, Jason, so now I'm 24, 25. And I'm going in the locker room for the Bengals, you know, my team and the Cincinnati Reds, my team. And I'm thinking...
I don't know, man. I'm running out of questions to ask these guys. And I gave this great consideration. I thought, if I feel this way at 25, how am I going to feel about this when I'm 35 and 45? And I concluded, and nothing against sports broadcasting, but the learning curve was dropping off quickly for me.
So my dad would leave the driveway at 8.05 every morning and come home at 6 p.m. We'd all sit down for dinner, seven of us. And he sold mattresses for Serta.
And he was a mattress executive there. And I thought, pops, man, that's not going to float my boat. And I just thought, I need to find a job where I can learn something new every day. Because if I found that job, then that would keep my brain interested and it would not feel like work to me.
And if my dad had to work for 35, 40 years, I'm going to have to work for 35, 40 years. So I'm going to pursue finding the job where I can learn something new every day. So I quit that sports reporting job and I took $15,000 in the bank account and I backpacked around the world for a year. And this was all third world travel. I went to the country's
That were third world that are considered emerging markets today. You know, it's China and it's Vietnam and it's Indonesia and it's Nepal and India and it's Middle East and Eastern Europe and Russia. And I was not alone the entire time, but for a lot of it by myself. And I used all local transportation, all local buses everywhere.
learn the local alphabets to try and figure out where to go and how to get there and how to get this done within a year. And that's what I did. And it just opened my mind to literally a whole new world, Jason. And that was my decision. You know, I'm not going back to sports. I'm going into news because I want to continue along this road to learn as much as I can while I can. How's that?
Let's go back to this backpacking. So at this point in your life, I mean, you'd been to Ohio and you'd probably been to Pennsylvania, but where else had you been in your life? Well, good question. I, um, when I was at Miami university in Oxford, Ohio, 1809, um, it's, um, they had a, uh, European program in the country of Luxembourg. And at the time we were the only university in the entire country. Uh, Luxembourg is a tiny place. And, uh,
I went there for six months and really just... So you got a little bit of a fever for the international. That was the initial chapter to that part of the book, I guess, or the life. And it was the first time I had a passport, and it was magical, Jason. What did your parents say when you say...
hey, mom, dad, I'm not going to be at dinner next week because guess what? I'm going off to India. How did that conversation go down? Well, I will tell you, the Europe trip happened. I tell you, I don't know if a lot of people remember this, but the mid-'80s were a tough time in this world. It's the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
And our Americans overseas, they were being kidnapped all the time. And many times they were killed. And this was right after the TWA pilot was hijacked. I think it was on the tarmac in Rome. It might have been Athens. I can't recall off the top of my head. But this was going on a lot. And...
I think you might appreciate this. Between January of 1986 and June of 1986, when I was in Luxembourg, we had the Berlin bombing where our Marines were killed.
We had Reagan bomb Gaddafi in Libya. We had the Challenger explosion in late January of 1986. And one day we had 14 bombs go off in the Champs-Élysées in Paris. In April of that year, you had a bomb go off at the side of a TWA plane that sucked a woman and her baby out of the plane between Athens and Rome. And this was the kind of thing that was going on all the time. So there was concern. So...
mom, dad, hey, look, you know, I've saved some money with my $12,000 a year job and I'm going to go get a backpack and go through. Like, what'd your parents say? Did they think you were just the craziest? You were going to be like a hippie the rest of your life and unsuccessful? I don't think hippie was the way it would be characterized.
Do you let your hair grow long? I never cut my hair or shaved for 10 months. So you look sort of like Forrest Gump when he does a run from coast to coast? Maybe a little more attractive than Forrest Gump. But yeah, you're in the right direction. All right. And you just go for it. You just get out a map. They didn't have mobile phones. They didn't have
didn't even have MapQuest, let alone Apple or Google Maps. Great point. I'm glad that you appreciate that because I don't think anyone under the age of 40 would.
I laugh with some of the, say, younger generation. I keep making these MapQuest references, and they just start giggling. Like, either, what is that? Or, yeah, I remember when you'd go to MapQuest and then print out the directions and how to do it.
Correct. How long ago that was. Or my parents were members of AAA, and they get what's called a triptych when we drive to Florida. And a triptych, it literally shows you the interstate on every page as you progress down I-75. But there's a series of books from The Lonely Planet. That's a series of publications. Oh, I love that. And what they do is, you're familiar with it, they send reporters who literally live in various countries and cities, and they write things up so that you get suggestions for
about where to go, where to stay and what to do. Here's the thing. I knew I wanted to dive in the Great Barrier Reef. I knew I wanted to walk on the Great Wall of China. I knew I wanted to see the skyscrapers in Hong Kong. I knew I wanted to go to the Taj Mahal in India. I knew I wanted to see the pyramids in Giza, Egypt.
I knew I wanted to go to the old city of Jerusalem. And everything else, Jason, was wide open. So if you draw a line on the globe east to west, you can see where I was headed, right? Yeah. But what happens in between those places is where the mystery is. Did you keep a journal? Of course. Yeah. It's so bad. I never go back and read it. I don't know. It's just something about...
Like living in the future as opposed to the past, but I don't know I probably learned a lot about myself or ever what had the discipline to go back and read it the thing that I thought Was most interesting is that you're meeting other people along the way and you can ask them Oh, you came from so-and-so. What did you do or literally word of mouth would help generate? Interest in a place perhaps that I never knew before right?
And there's a charming element of discovery that can be found in the newness of an experience. When I became a chairman there at the House Oversight Committee, you can then lead these congressional delegation trips and sort of, I wouldn't say an afterthought, but at the end of the trip, we were supposed to go to Poland. And ends up the Pope was going to be in Poland and
State Department advised us, yeah, you're probably not going to be able to get around the city, nor are you going to get the meetings you want. So let's come up with something else. We ended up going to Lithuania and it ended up being one of the most fascinating, interesting and informative parts of our trip. But it just, you know, it wasn't planned like that because my perception back in Washington, D.C. was far different than when I actually got out there. Wow.
And it's that same thing. I think that's, I think that if you could just kind of listen and then start talking to people and say, who should we go talk to? Who should we interact with? So you went to Vilnius, didn't you? Oh, I just love Vilnius. Vilnius is like one of my favorite towns. And you never really thought about or gave it much thought before you went. Well, what I didn't appreciate is the, obviously the proximity to Russia, they share a border, but that Russia had held land to the, to the West and,
and that they were running this train like every day, multiple times a day, Russians were going across and how absolutely frightening that was to the people of Lithuania and how without NATO, without the United States, how they would just get run over. And just the eye-opening nature of what and how NATO worked in a precarious position like the way Lithuania is situated and how
manipulative Russia was. There's a lot I learned there that I, you know, that's why you go on these trips. And so when you're serving in Congress, you remember when, you know, when Putin's acting up, you understand where these people are coming from because they lived under the thumb.
Yeah. And then look. Of the Soviet empire. That's right. And at the time we had the, you know, Trump was pushing the NATO partners saying, hey, you're going to have to pony up more of a percentage of your gross domestic product. And he was successful in getting, what, $100 plus billion out of these countries. And I think he was absolutely right. But it was illuminating to go there because there is no choice but to have a strong NATO presence there. Mm-hmm.
In Lithuania, Latvia, all these kinds of things that then it becomes crystal clear. And that's why like members of Congress, when they don't get out of their seats and they don't show up on the floor of the House, then I think the country loses a lot. I think that perspective is spot on. Yeah.
Because for me, it was understanding the territorial disputes of Kashmir. It was sitting in a $4 a night hotel room in the Arab quarter of the old city of old Jerusalem, trying to understand what means what to whom and why.
Yeah. And really understanding the Middle East process going back thousands and thousands of years. You can't do that sitting in Alpine, Utah, and you can't do it from an apartment in Manhattan. No. And, you know, that's we went to Peshawar, which is, you know, the kind of the northern part of Pakistan or up by the border of Afghanistan. And you're right. Did you get to Kashmir? Did you get all the way up there? I did not.
Oh, see, they wouldn't let me go either. It was driving me nuts. I wanted to go there. They said, there's no Americans there. And I said, I don't believe you. And they said, well, you can't go anyway. And I said, why? And they said, it's too dangerous. I can't guarantee your safety.
Yeah. Maybe you picked the wrong time. Maybe there was another time that you might have gained some access. But you're right. To understand the world, to get out in the world and have that. So you go on this amazing trip. You come back. I'm sure you got days worth of stories that you could tell us. But you get back and then what? You decide, hey, I need an income. Yeah.
Well, fortunately for me, my boss was a former hippie. And when I told him about my idea, he loved it. And so he came up with this idea before I would leave is to buy me a little Sony $1,200 video camera. So I would file these reports. They were so bad, Jason.
And they would air them on the local CBS station back in Cincinnati, which kind of kept, you know, it was interesting in the sense that no one else was really doing it. And people were in Cincinnati kid. OK, let's pay attention to this. And I also had a which which I've I found to be the most rewarding to me at my age now looking back is.
I wrote articles for the Cincinnati Post, which used to be an afternoon daily owned by Scripps Howard in Cincinnati. They're now out of business. And so I would write articles about how you travel across the island of Java in a public bus for two days or meeting Mother Teresa in Calcutta and what that experience was like working in her clinics for two weeks. And it was cool to see the articles, but it was even cooler to see the pictures because
that I took and shipped back. And I've got all the negatives. And over the past couple of years, I've taken some of the ones I like the most with the best memories for me. And I've scanned them, given modern technology today. And I've been able to blow them up to bigger sizes. And it's been a great project. They've all come out so well. And to capture an image, you're a photographer, you know this, to capture an image on film
That's 25 years old. And to blow it up with clarity and to put it in a beautiful frame is better than an NFT. Did you go back and read the Paul Thoreau books and kind of his adventures like that? I've read a few. I think he's a great writer. He's had some great experiences and he's still doing it. Yeah.
These are books for those listening about these kinds of adventures where he goes through the South Pacific and shows up. He goes to Cabela's, buys a fold-up canoe, and then shows up in the South Pacific and starts paddling. Yes. It's kind of fun. You're listening to Jason in the House. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Bill Hemmer right after this.
All right, so you've kept your foot in the door, but you're now back. You shaved a little bit, I'm guessing. Now you need a job. Hammer needs a job. Hammer needs some income. So with the agreement to file pieces, I said, okay. He goes, maybe we can work on a little contract before you go, too. I was like, okay. I said, but there's one stipulation here, Jim.
Jim Zarchin's the name. Great guy. New York born and bred. Moved to Cincinnati. Remade his life. Now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. And I said, I don't want to go back to sports. I would really like to be a news reporter. And he said, no problem. So I came home and I had a job.
And part of the reason why that's important is because, well, if you leave and you get malaria in India and you're home in four months, all this work you've put in for the past six, seven years of your life is just going to go down the drain. That's how I viewed it. So I wanted to make sure I had, you know, a bird in the hand if that were the case. Yeah, I started being a news reporter and you cover city hall, you cover court cases, you cover school lotteries, you cover gas prices, all
You cover the county commissioners. Some of it's interesting. A lot of it is just kind of dry. Kinda? Kinda? Well, here's why I think it is vital if you want to succeed in this business, because
There is a foundation of knowledge that you build when you follow these stories and assignments at a local level. You learn how your city works and your county and your state works. Yeah. And that there's great value in that. No, I agree. My first kind of quote unquote political thing was I had moved to Highland City, Utah, and I was a new resident there.
And I thought, well, we're a growing city. I better kind of figure out what's going on. So they had a planning commission meeting. So I show up at the planning commission meeting and I was the only person in the audience.
and the mayor at the start of the planning commission said, do you have business before the commission? And I said, no. I said, look, I just moved here. I'm just kind of interested where the city's going. So they kick off the meeting. The mayor comes down. We talk off the thing. And next thing I know, they asked me to be on the planning commission because they had never had anybody actually show up to a planning commission voluntarily to see what was going on. And that's how I got to learn about it.
curb and gutter and setbacks and how the city actually works. Yeah, it's amazing. You know what I found, Jason? Sometimes I cover these trials or I'd have a story that you might think is kind of dry at 8 a.m. By the time it hits the air on the 6 o'clock news and you head to the local bar at 8 o'clock and you meet up with your buddies and you start to tell them about the story, this is what really kicked it for me.
When I described to them the story and what I did that day, they were interested. And, you know, I thought, man, I've got something here. So you're obviously good at it. You're obviously talented at it. You may not be able to spin a record on a tower before school, but that experience. So what was the break that took you from local newsman to doing something now on the national level? Well, I'm a white guy with dark hair.
And I wanted to, I wanted to go from the reporting to the anchor desk. And there are about five guys with white hair. Uh, sorry. There are five white guys with dark hair in front of me. Uh, it's a bit of an exaggeration, but I knew it was going nowhere at that station. So I hired an agent, Jackie Harris out of New York, and she shipped my tapes to five different, uh, outlets. And one of them was CNN. And, um,
They flew me down there and it was the first day trip business trip of my life. It's so common now. It was not common in 1993. And they lead you into this big vacuous room. This is in Atlanta. This is in Atlanta. I've described it as a Home Depot on a Saturday night, empty with enormous ceilings. And they run you through an audition and they want to see how you read prompter. And then they'll
do some tricks, taking the prompter away, seeing how you ad lib. And then they'll do a breaking news story where you interview the boss about a particular incident. In this case, it was a TWA flight that was, um, that had just crashed in St. Louis. And he said in my ear, short of the runway. And, uh,
I tell you this story because it has symbolic meaning to me and I think a lot of other people once you hear the kicker on this. So the deal was the boss doesn't meet with you until he sees you audition. Right. So a little bit of pressure. Yeah.
You know, and again, Bob Fernandes, his name, great guy, loved working for him. He got my year and it was like it was like high school football, Jason. You know, here's your coach and he wants to see you perform. And I was all jacked up. He said, Bill, you ready? I said, I sure am. And so we did this. It went well. And the kicker was he doesn't meet you unless he sees you audition first. And at the end, he said in my earpiece, I'll see you in my office. Like, wow.
All right. Okay. I walk in his office. He goes, I know you're 30, but you look 18. We have to do something about that. And I said, okay, I can work on that. He says, I'm going to be in touch with your agent and you'll hear from me very soon. So I took that as a really good sign. And I'm walking out. He says, and by the way, all the years I've been doing this, no one's ever asked me what's short of the runway.
Because in my mind, I didn't know if it was a neighborhood, a field, or a factory. And I wanted to understand that. And he hired me. Got the gig. Got the job. Worked there for 10 years. I saw history change before me for the lives of millions and millions of people, Jason. I had a great 10-year run at CNN.
And that was 16 years ago. Wow. And then you made the transition to Fox. Mm-hmm. 2005, on the eve of Katrina. I think it was August 28th. It was a Sunday night. I walked into the old Studio B. It's 8 o'clock in the evening. And Julie Banderas is sitting there. I say, hi, I'm Bill. She goes, hi, I'm Julie. And she says, you can sit right here.
And off we went. In the Fox way, they just kind of throw you in the deep end of the pool and say, swim. And that's what we did 16 years ago. Well, it's interesting because I had done, I don't know how many hundreds or thousand plus hits I'd done as a member of Congress. So then I decided to leave Congress and I'm shortening this great deal. And the
they hire me as a contributor. And I had a great discussion with Jay Wallace and I said, okay, I don't know what I don't know, so tell me what I need to do and what I need to know and what do you want me to do? And he gave me the great, like perfect answer, which was,
You just, just you be you. Just be authentic. Don't think you have to say or do anything. Just do what you, we're looking for your viewpoint. Don't change anything. So we were having this discussion and I think this is above and beyond just Jay. It was with a few other people. And he said, well, do you want to host something? And I said, well, yeah. And I said, what would you, what would you do? And I said, well, look, I'm not presumptuous enough to do it.
I don't know how to do it yet. You can't just throw me out there. I wouldn't do it on day one, but I'd like to gravitate to that. So fast forward a little bit. All of a sudden, I got a call to guest host for Laura Ingram on the Ingram Angle. And I thought, all right, now that's a pretty big bite out of the apple to start on your very first time ever.
ever hosting it. And it's not as if you're doing it on, you know, with two or three other anchors, you're fine solo. And I said, you know, this is like a primetime show, right? And they said, yeah, I said, you'll be fine. Get out there. And they just kind of threw me out there. There really was no, it wasn't like, hey, let's go to class or hey, let's do a practice session or two. No, it wasn't like that. You were in the deep end of the pool. Yes. And they said, all right, go.
you know, and that light goes on and you start going. I think one of the great things about this place is that they rely on the personality of the anchor to carry the moment. Yeah. And you know, it's, it's, it's up to you. I love it. It is fun. And so like, you know, when a Sean Hannity or Laura Ingram get a vacation and I, I, I'm lobbying for more vacation for them. I love, I love doing it. It is fun. That's great.
So what do you love most about it? But what do you what do you want to do with it? You've been doing it now for a long time. Yeah, long time. What lights your fire? Well, I mean, it goes back to a story I relayed to you in the beginning of our conversation. And that is, you know, am I learning something new every day? And to this day, the answer is yes. Absolutely.
I find my brain still to be stimulated. I find it a challenge to get the facts right. I find it a challenge to find the right interesting question. I still enjoy breaking news because it's the closest thing that I get to the old sportscasting days where your brain sees an image
and you are compelled to find the right words that come out of your mouth to describe that to viewers. So there's a cool little package. And for election nights, we do the billboard stuff, and the reason I like that is because I like numbers, and I like geography, and I enjoy politics. Well, the billboard is impressive for you to memorize the counties the way that you do, and it's always great. Technology can be great as long as it's working. Right. Not always. Right.
Yes, technology isn't always right there when you need it. But boy, your memorization of the counties in the history of that, you obviously put a lot of effort into it. Well, thank you, brother. I will tell you the last time around that Virginia even mattered was 2008. And even that year, I remember we didn't give it a lot of attention.
But Barack Obama won it, and we kind of forgot about it because of Northern Virginia. And we have never studied New Jersey before. Now that, to me, the perception was, all right, maybe not as much prep on New Jersey as there was, but the way you pivoted over and got it going –
But it seemed like, hey, we're dealing with the news of the moment. And that's what I thought was the authentic part of the moment. It wasn't like it was pre-canned and pre-taped. And, oh, by the way, we already knew what was going to happen. I agree with you. The great exception to that is the fact that it's not a large state. And it's Newark and it's Trenton and it's downstate. And a lot of rural, yeah. Yeah, a little bit. So I tell you, Virginia was hard to study. And I'll tell you why. 95 counties plus 30.
38 municipalities that govern themselves. So they look like little specks on the map, but a lot of people live in these places like Charlottesville and Richmond, et cetera. Well, and they have such different personalities. They just, they got different workforces. They got different employers. They got different. This is so different. Yeah.
Well, you do a fabulous job of that. Thank you, brother. And nobody does, I think, breaking news. There's a couple people that can deal with breaking news like such pros. And I don't know how you keep your composure, quite frankly. You're dealing with life and death, like literally coming across live, horrific situations. I think of what happened with this –
You know, this parade and, um, you know, car barreling through killing people. I don't know how you keep your composure and those types of things. I, I got probably too much of a glass jaw. Yeah. I tell you the, um, the difference there is that if you can keep the feelings and
At arm's length, your head will still think and your emotions will not get in your way. It's not always that way. 9-11 was substantial to go through that human experience.
And something happened to me when I covered that earthquake in Haiti in Port-au-Prince in 2009 because that was not, it was not good. And the capper for me was going to that elementary school in Sandy Hook and going there on a chilly Friday afternoon about two and a half weeks before Christmas. Those were gut-wrenching experiences where it's impossible to, you know, to remove the heart from the story. It sticks with you. And...
Yeah. Maybe in a lot of ways, Jason, it's good to be in a studio because you're away from it. But, you know, the experience of talking to victims and listening to them tell their stories is – that's tough. It's a hard part of the job. And it's not for everyone. But it's – you're the conduit to millions of people that are living it too. And I remember that Sandy Hook, you know, I –
actually was invited by George Stephanopoulos to go up there for his weekend Sunday show. And most everybody I talked to advised me not to. And I'm like, no, we should. I take the hard ones and the easy ones. And
there's something different when you're just on the other end of a camera, as opposed to actually sitting right there by the school and meeting the townspeople and seeing them as you drive up and the atmosphere that was there. It was hard, but it's supposed to be hard. It's not, hey, how do we make you easier, more comfortable? How do we smooth this over? It was
It was very real. And that, I think, is what the public needs. And to that, hats off to you because you've done that more than your share. And between yourself and Harris Faulkner and a few others, you're so good at the breaking news. Thank you, Jason. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you saying that.
We want to learn a little bit more about you, so I've got some rapid questions for you. Oh, do it. Okay, lightning. And I don't care how many times you have taken a train in the middle of India and all that. I don't think you're properly prepared for these questions. Oh, I love it. Okay, lightning round. Here we go. We're just going to go a little bit of a lightning round here. Okay. First concert you attended. Liberace, fourth grade. Okay.
True story. Ask my mom and dad. Couldn't believe it. Okay, we've never had a Liberace, nor do I think we'll ever have a Liberace. I'm the only person I know who ever saw him.
How was it? Oh, it was entertaining. I mean, he's a great player. I mean, just full of flash and dash. And it was at Music Hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a cool theater. And I'll never forget it. Well, I'll never forget that that's the answer you gave me. You got it.
All right. High school mascot. Oh, high school. The elder Panthers. The purple Panthers. I was a Panther. I was a Middle Park Panther. Nice. Which was purple. We were purple and white. Dig it. We were 1922 coming up on 100 years next year. Well, we actually had Panthers where we lived because this was when I was in Winter Park, Colorado. And the school was in Granby, Colorado. But we did have mountain lions.
And I had argued my senior year there that we should change her name to the Penguins.
And I wasn't successful. They are still the Middle Park Panthers. I like Panthers. Panthers work. First celebrity crush. Don't think it's ever happened. Really? I mean, maybe like Courtney Cox when she was dancing with Bruce Springsteen. I don't know. I'll just throw chum in the water for you to give you an answer. I don't know. I'm just never that really impressed with. Even as a kid? Yeah, not so much.
Yeah. That's interesting. All right. She was a cutie, man. I'm telling you. And she came out of nowhere, too. Nobody knew what she was all about. She hadn't really done anything before. That video got her the role on Friends. I mean, she made a lot of money. I was an MTV-aholic. I remember sitting there with my buddy,
watching Duran Duran and and you know all these fans coming up and I remember the Bruce Springsteen and you know and she's there in the front row and he pulls her up on stage I totally remember that yeah me too all right um so you're hosting the show and the and the booker says hey good news Bill uh we were able to secure this next guest it's Bigfoot what do you ask him ask
Ask Bigfoot. Yeah. I ask him, where has he been? Where you been?
Where you been? A lot of people think they've seen you, but no one's ever confirmed it. Like how many of you are you? Where you been? How big are you? See, I would like to go to the tape and start rolling and say, is that really you? Were you there? Is this one a fakey or a real one? Does this look like you? I'm fascinated by, you put Bigfoot or UFOs on television, I'm probably stopping turning the channel and I'm going to watch that for a few minutes. Really? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. All right. Now, you've been on national television for a long time. A couple years. I'm old. People are going to recognize you when you walk through an airport or show up somewhere. Who's the celebrity that, if they don't know it's Bill Hemmer, but they're sure that they've seen you, who is the celebrity that they think you look like? Ooh. Who?
Every once in a while, you probably have somebody who says, hey, you're... They stare at me and they say, I've seen you, blah, blah, blah. There's not like a common like, oh, you must... I mean, I think when I was younger, Doug Flutie and I looked a lot like each other. And my brother played football at Boston College when Flutie was the quarterback. You guys look like you're different heights.
Flutie's shorter than I thought. No, he's 5'11". I'm 5'11". We're exactly the same size. Really? Yeah. See, I perceive you as taller than... And I've been around you a lot. No, 5'11". Yeah. Flutie's a little bigger than you think, actually.
I mean, he looks so small because you compared all these guys who are six foot seven on the football field. That was one thing growing up. Who else? I'm not so sure. I think people like mistake me for politicians they've seen or actors on soap operas or that. That's probably the most common. I've seen you. So you come around here. Did you work at such and such hospital? Do you know such and such lawyer?
Yeah, one guy I saw in the Tennessee airport, and I've told this story a few times, but he swore that I was his dentist. And I keep telling him that I'm not his dentist, and I'm kind of explaining that I was in Congress, and now I'm with Fox. And he's like, no, you're my dentist. You're just pulling my leg. And I'm just like, okay, I'm your dentist. Most embarrassing moment? Whew.
I don't think I've had it. That's good. That's good for all the time on air. I don't know, most embarrassing moment on TV? General Wesley Clark and I were once on CNN, and he and I were debating and talking and going after about Benghazi, and I said firefight instead of firefight.
And next thing I know, I can feel the phone in my pocket just buzzing, like lighting up. And of course, it was Gowdy saying, you just said firefight. I said, no, it's firefight. He said, oh, no, we all saw it. Yeah, I think I've stayed away from it for the most part. That's good. But I guess there's got to be one I'll step in at some point, Jason. Yeah, it can be off camera too, yeah. Well, let's hope that it's not too bad. All right, so if you can meet one person. Hey, Bill, tonight for dinner? That's easy, that's easy.
That's easy. Who's that? Bob Dylan. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Only if he agreed to talk to me. Yeah. I'm assuming that he's going to spend, he's going to answer some questions. Just have a break bread with you. He can be a little difficult, but yes, I would very much enjoy that. I have a lot of questions for him and I'm a big fan of what he produces with the word, the use of words.
And I would very much look forward to that. I didn't see that one coming. That's interesting. All right. Unique talent that nobody knows about. I used to be able to play the piano. I've lost all skills. I love to play golf and I'm not working. What's your handicap? I'm an 11. I'm dying to get to a single digit. I'm a 10-8. I'm
I'm dying to be like a 9.9 just once in my life. But you know what gets in the way, Jason? My job. Your job, and you're up in New York. It's tougher to play in cold weather states. Believe me, it's tough to get anywhere and play the game in New York. Yes. Plus with the full-time guys, it's hard. But I love it. It's the get-out-in-nature and...
I find there are two things that you need to isolate your mind with in order. If you're going to do them well, you're going to have to be fully focused. One is sailing if your hand is on the tiller. If you're just sitting on the side of the boat drinking rosé, then that doesn't count. But if you're actually sailing the vessel, you have to be fully engaged. Winds, water, depth, etc.
etc. And the other thing is golf. If you want to play and you want to win or have a chance of beating your buddy, you have to be fully engaged in it and your mind cannot be distracted and you cannot be checking your phone. No, and that's what's amazing about the pros, right? They win these tournaments by a stroke or maybe two.
After playing four rounds and you're just like, you got to be kidding me. I mean, it's that intense, right? Every putt. Pretty good. Yeah. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? Never. Good answer. The judges really like that answer. Nice.
That's good. That is the only acceptable answer, by the way. The answer is no. Best advice you ever got? Sure is from my dad. Here's the best advice I like to give. I would say ask a thousand questions, play well with others, and always be available.
That's good advice. Very good advice. I think in our industry, especially when you're young and you're trying to find your way, that's if you follow those three tenants, you'll find you'll find an answer in time. May not be on your watch, but it will it will come to you.
Yeah. Work hard, work smart. You're right. Ask a thousand questions, be available and just work your butt off. Yeah. Yeah. Play well with others. All right. Last question. So what would you be doing if you didn't follow the television? Great question. I've often wondered that myself and maybe that's why I've been doing it for 26 years because I don't have a backup plan.
And I've often wondered about people who do, but I've never had one. I've just been full in, all in, all the time. I don't know. Would I sell houses? I don't know. Well, at this point, I think you're a pretty safe bet that you're going to continue on. You're the best in the industry. Thank you, brother. I appreciate that. I know I would not be a professional golfer if that answers that question.
You would try, but you wouldn't be making any money. You'd be back making, yeah. Yes, sir. Bill, thank you so much. Thanks for what you do and how you do it. You just do it so smoothly and so right and from your heart, and it shows. And appreciate you joining us on the Jason and I's podcast. Thank you, brother. I am proud to call you a friend. It's been great to get to know you, and I'm glad I answered the phone.
Thanks again. Bill Hammer, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, Jason. See you soon. All right, man. Thanks again. Truly appreciate it.
All right. I can't thank Bill Hemmer enough. See what I mean? He was just like super nice guy. Right. And I had no idea about his traveling the world and and interesting that he didn't go into sports because that's where his passion lays, you know, where it was. And he's just he's such a professional in everything he does. And I love the rapid questions. It got some different answers than I than I ever thought I would. So thanks again to Bill Hemmer.
All right. Hey, thank you so much for listening to the Jason in the House podcast. Hope you can rate it, subscribe to it, give it some stars. We would certainly appreciate it. You can find more podcasts over at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. And I hope you join us again next week. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House.
The world of business moves fast. Stay on top of it with the Fox Business Rundown. Listen to the Fox Business Rundown every Monday and Friday at foxbusinesspodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.